What if you could pay $19 for a qualified lead and get a 5%+ response rate using a proven marketing tactic? Even better, what if fewer of your competitors are using this tactic than ever before?
No, these aren’t promises from the latest digital advertising or lead generation platform.
Those results - and better - have been proven through decades of old-school direct mail marketing. That’s right! Postcards, informational flyers, and personalized letters are still some of the most effective direct marketing strategies.
Real estate direct mail marketing can have incredible ROI and response rates when executed correctly. To get it right, you need to nail your timing, design, budget, and cadence.
In this article, we’ll review exactly how often you should send direct mail campaigns, and other common questions related to direct mail for real estate marketing.
How Often Should I Send Real Estate Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns?
Direct mail providers have huge amounts of data tracking the success rates of mail campaigns. Their data suggests that you should try to send real estate direct mail marketing campaigns approximately once per month, though this number may change based on your exact marketing goals, budget, and capabilities.
The exact cadence of your real estate direct mail marketing campaigns should be aligned to your broader lead generation and sales goals. For example:
Are you using direct mail to nurture existing leads?
Are you trying to generate new leads via direct mail campaigns?
How many new leads are you trying to produce each month?
Do you know what your response and conversion rates are?
Depending on the answers to those questions, you might adjust the type of direct mail pieces being used and the frequency of campaigns.
How does this work?
Let’s consider 2 examples.
For cold prospects (or those with an unknown status) you might focus on monthly campaigns aimed at getting them to take a very specific action like requesting a home valuation. This type of action will help you understand the potential level of interest in listing their home. Smart Data and other SmartZip tools give you additional insight into the prospect’s interest level so you know exactly who to target.
If you have a well-defined list of “hot” prospects then you can change your approach by sending a greater variety of material, higher-quality pieces, or adding personal outreach and touchpoints to your sales plan.
Measuring the Success of Direct Mail for Real Estate Agents
If you’re just getting started with real estate direct mail, it’s normal to have a lot of questions:
How do you know if your efforts are working?
Should you spend more?
Should you send more frequently?
Should you change your mailer design or messaging?
Like all marketing activities, direct mail will require you to carefully measure specific results so you can understand the ROI for your investment and adjust your strategy as needed.
Here are some helpful questions to help you define what success looks like:
Did you set goals (KPIs) to ensure you realize a return on your investment?
Have you been measuring your response rate (e.g., the number of prospect responses divided by the total number of prospects mailed)?
Are you tracking closed opportunities and their source?
Even a basic spreadsheet with a few tracking columns will help you narrow your focus on the direct mail tactics with the best results. Equipped with better metrics, you’ll be able to use your marketing budget more effectively.
Real Estate Direct Mail Marketing Budget
How much should you be prepared to invest in real estate direct mail marketing? While mail is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies, the costs can vary significantly depending on multiple factors.
Here are the factors that will have the biggest impact on your costs:
Data (the cost of sourcing prospect addresses and demographic information).
Mailer size and quality.
Postage (e.g., the number of recipients).
How much does real estate direct mail cost on average? Plan to spend anywhere from $0.35 - $0.55 per mail piece for printing and postage.
Keep in mind that this estimate is for printing and postage costs only, and doesn’t include expenses incurred from buying data or paying graphic designers and copywriters to help create the piece.
Real Estate Direct Mail Marketing Tips for Success
We recommend reading our complete step-by-step guide to running real estate direct mail before you get started. Our guide will help you integrate direct mail into your overall farming approach. But, below are a few key direct mail principles to point you in the right direction:
Plan to market monthly or quarterly, and stick with your efforts for at least a year.
Use a great landing page and CTA to give your prospect a valuable, engaging next step.
Personalize messaging wherever possible, including using prospect names and neighborhood references.
Start Your Direct Mail Campaigns Today
What if you could design, schedule, and launch campaigns in just a few minutes with no experience as a marketer or graphic designer? SmartZip offers a suite of sophisticated tools that are simple to use and allow you to:
Easily design custom-branded postcards or other mailers.
Select a precise group of prospects as recipients.
Add a high-value CTA like a branded landing page that provides prospects with an automated home valuation, or the option to subscribe to a local real estate market trends report.
Set automated, recurring campaigns and put lead generation on autopilot.
Interested to see how our system can simplify, streamline, and integrate your direct mail efforts? Request a demo of our system today!
